Repaint! Repaint!

Image Source: Matthew Hamilton

Jock, the painter, would often thin his paint so that it would go further. So when the Church decided to do some maintenance, Jock was able to put in the most affordable quote, and got the job. As always, he thinned his paint way down with turpentine.
One day while he was up on the scaffolding -- the job almost finished -- he heard a horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened.
The downpour washed the thinned paint off the church walls and knocked Jock off his scaffold.
Jock knew this was a warning from God, so he got on his knees and cried: “Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?”
And from the thunder, a mighty voice: “REPAINT! REPAINT! AND THIN NO MORE!”

How often do we have a similar approach to God's love for us? Our faith is so thin that it is not able to withstand the storms that come.

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

-1 John 3:1a (NIV)

"Jesus also used this illustration: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough."

- Matthew 13:33 (ESV)

In these verses, 2 words are used to describe God's love and God's kingdom - lavish and permeate. These 2 words do not imply being lightly coated. Lavish means to "bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities." Permeate mean to "spread through the entirety of something."

God lavishes God's love upon us and it permeates our entire being. It comforts us and strengthens us in order to endure burdensome times.

There are no conditions to God's love. God's love is lavished upon all of us equally. However, we have the choice as to whether we will continue to live as if we have merely been thinly-coated with God's love or whether we will live faithfully in the knowledge that God's love is lavished upon us in abundance and God's kingdom can permeate our entire being.